The story of living in spite of melanoma, metastasis, vaccines, anti-PD-1, lung removal, and stereotactic radiation. The story of life with family and friends. {Posts under ~ Sew Chaotically, Travel Chaotically, and Chaotic Cookery also housed within! A girl's gotta have fun!}

About Me

Who am I? That is a question the rest of you could probably answer better than I. I am a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, pediatric nurse practitioner, cook, teacher, gardener, lover of words and music, occasional seamstress, and homemaker. I do have a couple of talents of questionable merit: I can create a decent meal in less than 30 minutes. I can feed and/or soothe almost any baby. And I can remember practically any song I've ever heard. For the rest, I'd rather those who know me decide.

Metastatic
spread to the tracheobronchial tree from other than bronchopulmonary
tumors is a common clinical problem. However, malignant melanomas, a
highly metastatic potential tumor, is rarely metastasing in the airways.
Therefore little is known about survival of patients with endobronchial
metastasis from melanoma.

The aim of our
study was to assess survival of patients with endobronchial metastasis
of melanomas according to clinical and radiological features, to
determine any possible factor affecting survival.

This
retrospective study included 19 patients who underwent a bronchoscopy
from 11 different hospitals. Data about patients' demographics,
symptoms, radiographic, endoscopic findings and treatment were
investigated to evaluate any possible impact on survival.

Endobronchial
metastases occurred at a median of 48 months (range 0-120) following
the diagnosis of the primary tumor. 73.7% of patients had other proven
metastases when the endobronchial involvement was diagnosed. Symptoms
are not specific as well as radiological features. Median overall
survival of the studied population was 6 months (range 1-46). Factors of
poor survival were multiple metastatic sites, pleural and soft tissue metastasis. Different treatment
modalities applied in our patients showed no effect on survival.

Patients
with endobronchial metastasis have overall poor survival, affected by
multiple organ involvement, the presence of pleural and soft tissue
disease, while no impact on survival has been shown by any treatment
applied.

Oh, yeah. Melanoma CAN look like that!!!! Matter of fact...it did for me: Got melanoma? Get yourself a melanoma specialist!!!And even then, your melanoma specialist may not know what you are dealing with. But, peeps!!!! I'm still here! Granted my endobronchial melanoma was more my presentation (albeit 7 and 3 years respectively after two cutaneous primaries!) rather than after melanoma had invaded many organs. I feel pretty sure, given its small size, that my brain met was an off shoot from my lung mess...rather than the other way around....but, that additional met was present at diagnosis. And YES!!!!! You have one rattie, dear researcher peeps, for whom treatment has had an impact on survival!!!! If heaven forbid this happens to you.....get the best care you can. Don't listen to answers that make no sense. Consider treatment even IF you have only "6 months to live"!!!! I'm still here after a lobectomy of my right upper lung followed by 2 1/2 years of anti-PD1 and my 2010 endobronchial met!!!

Hang in there ratties! We are showing the way...bit by bit...day by day! And on my favorite day of all days....MARCH FORTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Love, c

2 comments:

Just as an FYI- From what I was told about my brain met is that they all come from some tumor in the body. I was treated at Stanford in 2015 and that's what my neurosurgeon said. Turned out I did have a tumor in my lung- being successfully treated with Opdivo.